This one’s not so easy for me. Sometimes I have to look away when I see this one. There are so many other thoughts that creep in and have to be dealt with and discerned through. John and Margie are in the midst of it right now. And they continually move forward inch by inch and point to and give praise to the author and perfecter of our faith. I know they would covet your prayers if you could share in their journey inch by inch. I have been blessed to share in it in some small way. I pray that you will be too.

Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. ~Joel 2:13

Wondering what this is? It’s Santa driving his “sleigh,” of course, with his “bag of toys” (*cough* dog food *cough*) and a very big elf. I just love it when they use their ‘maginations. (On Tonka, on Caterpillar, on Nemo, and backhoe…)

What does the countdown to Christmas look like at your house? These kids are wound pretty tight. Not sure what we’re going to do tomorrow…!

I just cannot go down this “Baby Jesus” road without referring you to these hiLARious quotes from Talladega Nights. These alone make it worth seeing this movie. I hope these will not offend any delicate sensibilities, but I am silly, and they make me laugh. Some of you might just want to click away now…

Dear Lord Baby Jesus, or as our brothers to the south call you Jésus…we thank you so much for this bountiful harvest of Domino’s, KFC, and the always delicious Taco Bell. I just want to take time to say thank you for my family, My two beautiful, beautiful, handsome, striking sons, Walker, and Texas Ranger, or T.R., as we call him. And of course my red hot smokin’ wife, Carley, who is a stone cold fox (Cal: MMMMM!), who if you would rate her @ss on 100 it would easily be a 94. I also want to thank you for my best friend and teammate, Cal Naughton Jr, Who’s got my back no matter what (Cal: Shake and Bake)

Dear Lord Baby Jesus, we also like to thank you for my wife’s father Chip, we hope that you can use your baby Jesus powers to heal him and his horrible leg. It smells terrible and the dogs are always bothering with it.

Dear Tiny, Infant, Jesus…

Look, I like the Christmas Jesus best, and I’m sayin’ grace. When you say grace, you can say it to Grownup Jesus or Teenage Jesus or Bearded Jesus or whoever you want.

Look, I like the baby version the best, you hear me? I win the races and I get the money

Dear Eight Pound, Six Ounce, Newborn Baby Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant, so cuddly, but still omnipotent. We’d just like to thank you for all the races I’ve won and the $21.2 million, LOVE THAT MONEY! That I have accrued over this past season. Also due to a binding endorsement contract that stipulates I mention PowerAde at each grace, I just wanna say that PowerAde is delicious and it cools you off on a hot summer day and we look forward to PowerAde’s release of mystic mountain blueberry. Thank you, for all your power and your grace, Dear Baby God, Amen

Well, I hadn’t planned to participate in BooMama’s Christmas Tour of Homes, but once again, I underestimated the voyeuristic fun and joy to be had in peeking into your bloggy homelives. So, here is a little but of our Christmas cheer, FWIW.

Now, not everyone seems to know that you should leave a little piece of Christmas out all year long, but this Santa has been hanging in our cramped entryway mudroom since last Christmas.

And I think this sweet little angel lady is going on year three perched atop our picture window (snowy today).

This here is our tree this year. I like to call her Bossy. (Baby’s got back). And she fell over (silently) twice, taking several of my most favorite fragile ornaments out with her. She is a beaut though. (Side note: If you look under the end table, you’ll see the box I never unpacked from our move. It’s full of vintage Nancy Drews.)

There haven’t been too many fragile ornaments on our tree in the last three years. (Just when I finally thought it might be safe to get them out again, Bossy strikes). I do love me some handmade ornaments, and some kid art ornaments. This one is an especially fine sparkly Star of David made by my daughter a few years ago.

And speaking of handmade kid art, this year Bossy is sporting a darling paper plate angel my son made just a few weeks ago in Sunday school. I usually go with my fake red berry Target tree topper, but Bossy was a little too large for such an adornment.

These are some of my other handmade favs. The angel is a cross-stitch ornament made by a coworker. The dove is handhammered by Stuart Nye. The Snoopy was given to me by my kindergarten teacher over 30 years ago.

This is our resin Nativity scene my mother-in-law gave to my daughter a few years ago. Other than the fact that baby Jesus is missing a few digits, it has held up quite well. It is the site of our current Advent devotionals. Saint Nicholas is often in attendance. Just an aside…candle snuffer…great for amusing the kids.

And this is the lovely Christmas decoration my daughter purchased at the AWANA store this year (The girl loves a party and she loves to decorate). Although, I long to go all-Christian in my decorating scheme, we will proudly display this one, (at least until she forgets about it…because I’m just sentimental).

That’s all I’m prepared to share today, because I’m private and a little Scroogy that way. But thank y’all for stoppin’. And thanks to our gracious hostess as well.

The plot of the dream is really quite simple, and I consider it a complete and total gift from God. One time, Mary asked me to hold the baby Jesus for her. And I did. And I glowed. And from then on I had a certain peace about my future as a mom that I never had before.

What about you? Got any favorite dreams? Or any dreams that hold special spiritual significance for you?

Don’t forget to take time to hold that baby Jesus this coming week and bask in His glow.